Judge approves first Gitmo detainee trial

WASHINGTON - The first war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay can begin Monday, a federal judge ruled, saying civilian courts should let the military process play out as Congress intended.

The decision is a victory for the Bush administration, which plans to use military commissions to prosecute terrorism suspects, including those charged in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Had the trial been delayed, it would have been a sign that the entire process might crumble under the weight of judicial scrutiny.

But U.S. District Judge James Robertson on Thursday rejected an effort by Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan, to postpone his trial. Hamdan argued he would suffer irreparable harm if he were prosecuted before he could challenge the legality of the process.

Hamdan hoped to capitalize on last month's Supreme Court ruling, which said Guantanamo Bay prisoners can challenge their detention in federal court. He said that ruling meant he couldn't go to trial until he's had the opportunity to argue that he isn't an enemy combatant.

If courts held that to be the case, every detainee at the U.S. naval base in Cuba could have used court challenges to delay his trial for months or years. But Robertson refused to step in.

"Courts should respect the balance that Congress has struck," he said, adding that "Hamdan is to face a military commission designed by Congress acting on guidelines handed down by the Supreme Court."

At Guantanamo Bay, military prosecutors said the ruling gave them more confidence that the trials would go forward against 80 detainees, including alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others charged in the attacks.